LoRa is a Long Range Radiofrequency wireless technology. Inducing, Low power wide area networks (LPWANS) to transmit data through a longer range of up to 10 km. LoRaWAN is a licensed and licensed-free frequency LPWAN protocol through which the Lora technology-induced IoT (Internet of things) connectivity is achieved.
You might think, the globalization of the world is not slowing down anytime soon. Guess again. The process is not as seamless as one would think. Globalization is simply, dis-isolation. And for that to occur, optimal communication must be achieved between technological physical devices, sensors, electronic devices and software around the world through proper transmission channels, in a process known as the Internet of things connectivity. The increasing number and improving technicality of technological devices without an equal advancement in their means or techniques of communication brought about the globalization and IoTs connectivity dilemma LoRa and LORAWAN were designed to solve.
LoRa is a technology that provides an LPWAN environment of LoRaWAN through which Low powered devices can transmit data with Chirp spread spectrum modulated radio license-free and licensed frequencies over a very long range of tens of kilometers. The word LoRa is an acronym coined from the first two letters of the words Long Range. Lora technology acts as a modulation for Low-power wide-area networks (LPWANS) and it influences the transmission and communication of these network types in the following number of ways:
The Lora technology consists of two main parts that work together as a single unit.
The above LoRa vs LoRaWAN’s explanation makes us see that the combination of the LoRa + LoRaWAN makes the entire LoRa communication Network a Low powered wide area network (LPWAN).
How exactly does LoRaWAN act as an LPWAN? You might wonder.
LoRa technology makes use of many Low power wide area networks but, LoRaWAN is used more than others.
LoRaWAN network is responsible for the communication protocol of the LoRa system which includes, ensuring the security and integrity of the data being communicated via the LoRa technology. LoRa and LoRaWAN are subsidiaries of the LoRa Alliance. With the aid of the LoRa technology, LoRaWAN helps transmit your data over an average distance of 9km. The LoRaWAN has a network architecture of a star topological connection structure. Configured to allow the optimal transmission of data in communications between the network server and LoRa sensory nodes.
In LoRaWAN Network data are communicated through Radio frequencies, they could either be license-free frequency bands that are specific to certain regions such as; 915 MHz and 868 MHz for North America and Europe respectively. OR, the data could be transmitted over licensed frequency bands.
You might think and of course, it’s reasonable to presume a whole lot of energy and power is used up in achieving such a feat.
Guess what?
You’re wrong. The power consumption is considerably lower compared to other communication networks of lower ranges.
How was this achieved? You might wonder.
A certain scientific law inferred that the range of any certain wide area network can only be boosted by either increasing the power consumption or by reducing the bandwidth.
In other words, LoRaWAN Network enables your Low-powered electronic devices to communicate via a Long-range wireless connection with internet-accessed Applications.
LoRaWAN technological stack is a LoRaWAN technological server that is equipped with features that can be easily integrated into the LoRaWAN Network and used to manage the network’s gateways, users, devices and applications. The specific features of the LoRaWAN technological stack are usually specific to the brand although, a typical LoRaWAN technological stack should be compatible with the A, B, C operation modes, all the regional parameters and also all the versions of LoRaWAN.
Some other features common to all LoRaWAN technological stacks include:
Some examples of LoRaWAN stacks brands include The Things Network Stack V3, Semtech LoRaWAN Network stacks etc.
LoRaWAN enables you to have a stable internet connection with low-power devices
LoRaWAN Network works through the collective functioning of different elements. Some of which include:
LoRa Based END devices, also called LoRa End nodes. A LoRa End node is a device that is usually battery powered and is equipped with components that bestows on it, features, enabling it to communicate with a LoRa gateway in a LoRaWAN communication network.
LoRa-Based End Devices are equipped with a LoRa node circuit board a radio module and printed antennae for wireless signal communication with the LoRa gateway.
LoRa nodes are also equipped with sensors microprocessors for sensing and processing signals and specific changes and actions.
Some LoRa-based End Devices are equipped with sensors that can;
Note: In the LoRaWAN network, Two LoRa-Based End devices cannot communicate directly without the use of a LoRa gateway.
A LoRa gateway is an electrically powered device in the LoRa and LoRaWAN communication Network connection that can accept the signals transmitted by the End node devices, process the signal then route them to the appropriate LoRa application. A typical LoRaWAN network connection usually includes more than one gateway.
LoRa Gateways are equipped with the following under-listed features and components;
LoRa gateways are designed to simultaneously listen for numerous Radio frequencies at once.
There are various brands of LoRa Gateways available and each of which has specific features in addition to these general features.
A LoRa network server must be compatible with all the available versions of LoRaWAN.
The LoRa application server main function is to decode and process the data transmitted from LoRa end nodes to the LoRa applications and to encode data sent by the LoRa applications to the End nodes. Most brands of LoRa application servers allows you the flexibility of easily linking your personal data management cloud system to the Lora network.
For a device to be granted a session in the LoRaWAN communication network the identity has to be confirmed through a join procedure involving an activation process whereby certain keys and codes will be generated and shared with the device to commission it into a LoRa End node device.
LoRaWAN has very standard encryption and security system. The LoRa security system is divided into two major different but interconnected layers.
They are called Network and Application security. The Network encryption layer commissions the LoRa end node identity and integrity.
The Application security makes sure that the owner of the network cloud you are using does not have access to your data, as an end-user.
LoRaWAN network is also integrated with another two distinctive layers of advanced encryption codes. They are:
The LoRaWAN communication protocol encrypts the data being transmitted in the LoRaWAN Network. Since the data are being transmitted over normal radio frequency they have to be encrypted through a different mechanism or protocol. All the data in the LoRaWAN network are usually encrypted twice.
In a typical LoRaWAN communication network the encryption data flow includes:
The activation of a new device joining the LoRa communication network could be completed by any one of the two below-listed processes:
At the end of the activation process, both the Network session key and the Application session key would’ve been shared with the new device, which would now be referred to as End node device.
The ABP method of joining the LoRa network involves a new device being added without having some specific session keys such as AppEUI, DevEUI, etc. shared with it. Instead, the session keys including, FNwk_SIntKey and about three others, would be stored directly into the End device. A device can only be activated via the ABP process if it already has the LoRa network participation required information, on start.
The over-the-air activation procedure involves the direct communication between an End Device with the Network server. This activation process is opted for only when the End device is reset.
The OTAA process includes:
The numerous range of fields in which LoRa can be applied gave rise to the categorizing of various LoRaWAN devices into different classes.
The three classes of LoRa Devices are class A, B and C.
End devices classified as class A are solely responsible for initiating communication in a LoRaWAN network. The Network server is not capable of initiating communication in a Class A communication. The Class A ending device initiates communication by sending data over a specific radio frequency band to the LoRa applications. It will then listen and wait for the data to the received over that particular frequency. If the LoRa gateway is unable to receive the information. The End node device will then listen to another frequency which the LoRa gateways and Network servers are more familiar with. To check if the data was accepted over that frequency instead of the one over which it was communicated.
Class B LoRa devices are battery-powered and though, similar in operation to Class A, it uses more power compared to Class A. Because, the End device do not automatically hibernate when not searching for connected signals. There are connection windows opened intermittently for communication of data between the LoRa gateways and the End device in certain periodic synchronization with each other.
Class C LoRa devices have the most power consumption among all the LoRa End devices classes. The End devices are always actively sending signals over radio frequencies to the LoRa gateways and simultaneously listening for frequencies. Class C LoRa devices are End nodes that provide you with the flexibility and convenience of being able to send data anytime.. Class C devices are also battery powered.
The identity server ascertains the identity of users joining the LoRa network. In a LoRaWAN network, the Identity server registers devices, gateways, users and applications. In a way, the Identity is the backbone of the LoRaWAN network as it enables it to be able to run on multiple devices and across different locations in the world.
LoRa is a patent modulation project of spread spectrum that is derived from Chirp Spread Spectrum. The Chirp spread spectrum modulates the frequency of the LoRaWAN communication network by exchanging the transmission’s data rate within a specific bandwidth for sensitivity. This optimizes the network’s efficiency and also simultaneously expands the LoRa network’s communication range while still maintaining a specific bandwidth.
LoRaWAN Network transmits communications over Radio wireless frequency bands which can either be licensed or unlicensed. The license-free Radio frequencies are free but, are more susceptible to interference compared to licensed frequencies.
The secret to the effectiveness of LoRa and LoRaWAN communication is the genius design of the LoRaWAN communication network which uses the Chip Spread spectrum to modulate the Frequencies as the data is being communicated through a particular frequency. In such a way that, even LoRa communications over license-free Radiofrequency as little to no chances of interferences. Simultaneously making the connection cheaper yet more efficient and allowing the data to be transmitted over long ranges.
In LoRa and LoRaWAN communication networks, the specific frequencies can be configured through LoRa radios and LoRa clocks specific to many different LoRa applications.
Some examples of License-Free MHz Radio Frequencies.
Asia: 169MHz, 433MHz
North America: 915 MHz
As LoRa and LoRaWAN transmit data communication over radio frequency bands. LoRa Network primarily uses the license-free frequencies, that is, those frequencies you don’t have to obtain a government license to broadcast signals through. The license-free frequencies are specific to each geographical region and location. For security and efficiency purposes. The government of every region frowns heavily on broadcasting through the frequency band not specified to your location. Therefore, when using the LoRa network, your LoRa radios and clocks must be configured to the frequencies bands specific to your location.
Bytes of data in its digital format are transmitted in the LoRaWAN network.
LoRaWAN network Data transmission rate has a limit of about 100 bytes, only that much data load can be effectively communicated at a time between a single End nodes device and gateway. Though LoRaWAN network often involves simultaneous communication between end multiple end node devices and a single gateway.
The data rate of the LoRaWAN communication network is adaptive in the sense of its dynamism in the exchange of the rate of the data for more sensitivity and also the Network selection of only specific data, leading to the reduced data rate within the LoRaWAN communication. The Spread spectrum modulated LoRaWAN frequency prevents the different data rates from interfering with one another. Thereby, optimizing the efficiency of the gateways and the overall network.
The LoRa technology is based on reducing Bandwidth concentration to increase range and reduce power consumption for the transmission of small-sized data over long distances.
LoRa-Range can also be affected by the physical location. The Range of a specific LoRaWAN version will be shorter in an urbanized community filled with clusters of buildings, compared to a rural community that has less and more spaced outbuilding and hence, fewer chances at transmission frequency obstruction.
The LoRa and LoRaWAN communication networks are simply better than others.
LoRaWAN, apart from it being the most widely used Low power wireless wide area network, other LPWAN connectivity options such as NB-IoT are not as cost-effective as LoRaWAN. The Bandwidth of the LoRaWAN communication network is relatively lower than other LPWANs and this grants it more coverage and a longer range compared to its competitors. Also, LoRaWAN can be applied in a wider range of fields compared to its competitors from Farming, in the application of LoRaWAN in smart water metre for irrigation to industries and normal household utilities. LoRaWAN sensors and technology is also expanding into the smart-buildings application where the LoRa technology can be used to monitor certain atmospheric conditions such as; temperature, humidity. LoRa technology’s application in the security and general maintenance of buildings is also rapidly garnering adoption. Whereas, the application of other LPWANs is very limited in Comparison.
LoRa has been in existence for ten years now and has been adopted by one hundred million devices globally, bringing an increase to the usage of IoT.
In 2009, two friends who had the same aim (building up a technology of long-range, low power modulation) met in France. Nicholas Sornin and Olivier Seller gave their time and dedication to this development despite the setbacks. This duo came in contact with François Sforza, who later became their partner.
In May 2012, Semtech bought cycleo with conviction about the abilities of LoRa and in February 2015, LoRa Alliance was established and the protocol was then named LoRaWAN. One aim of Semtech is to simplify and accelerate the process it takes to develop the IoT by making available new services and products. This makes LoRa and LoRaWAN the best choice in building and managing IoT.
LoRa is a frequency modulation technology developed for wireless Local Area intercommunion belonging to the class of LPWAN wiring technology.
LoRa, a wireless Radiofrequency system belongs to Semtech. This is an e pillar of LoRa Alliance. Ever since LoRa Alliance was established in 2015, the number of people joining the team has increased steadily.
LoRa and LoRaWAN function on a low frequency when compared to cellular networks. This is called an unlicensed spectrum. Globally, a lot of people use LoRa and LoRaWAN, mostly the European telecommunications companies and operators
To ensure that the LoRaWAN network covers a lot of countries, mobile operators dedicated their time to its development. Despite this, the LoRaWAN network cannot cover certain countries. This is due to the state of the market and its history.
The LPWAN system came into existence years ago. However, it got attention just a few years ago. This is due to:
Some operators however prefer mixing cellular and non-cellular where they can. Orange prefers LoRaWAN and LTE-M as complements rather than competitors.
At a French company named Cycleo, engineers worked on the frequency wave technology that brought forth LoRaWAN. After some period of negotiations, by 2012, SEMTECH had already purchased Cycleo. LoRaWAN was formally developed by LoRa Alliance and it signifies MAC layer protocol. The LoRaWAN protocol is used by over seventy operators and LoRaWAN IoT has been distributed to more than a hundred countries. LoRaWAN makes use of region-specific license-free frequencies.
LoRa vs LoRaWAN can be first examined in terms of OSI layers, there is a difference between LoRa and LoRaWAN. There are however different layers to this model. First is the physical layer which is the LoRa which enables long-distance communication links. LoRaWAN has to do with the communication protocol and structure of the system. Simply, LoRaWAN is the WAN network.
LoRaWAN was established for applications and sensors that can only work by transmitting and receiving little amounts of data occasionally over far distances within hours. The network is majorly defined by user accessibility. This network can be private or public.
This is utilized and regulated by telephone operators. The public LoRaWAN supports several applications from several organizations. Below are steps to achieve this connectivity:
Private LoRaWAN networks are useful for a single entity after installation. In this network, a user manages its IoT sensors and network structure.
You can achieve this connection with the following under-listed steps:
LoRaWAN is great for a lot of applications but not for a private network. The reasons are:
Concurrence of different gateways give room for interference; when LoRaWAN is operated, it turns to the same frequency and can access traffic.
Message reception is not assured.
It takes a lot of work dedicated to its development; presently, no vendor can provide an end-to-end solution for LoRaWAN. The difficulty is that you have to work with several vendors to get gateways, nodes and other things that make up the system. This creates a lot of work for the user.
A duty circle creates a huge limitation. In public networks, the use of the 868MHz band comes with a lot of setbacks. The average time length a gateway can transmit in a certain period does not go beyond one percent. Due to this, the LoRaWAN data load, that is, the amount of data transmittable at a particular time is limited.
The LoRa Alliance which was established in 2015 is a non-profit organization that dedicates its time and work to see the consistency of LPWAN as well as its global awareness and promotion. The mission of LoRa Alliance is to encourage and fasten the rate at which people adopt the LoRaWAN network. This is achieved by ensuring the synergy of all LoRaWAN technologies and products, helping the IoT convey a greater future. The LoRa Alliance has over five hundred members from different companies. The members of LoRa Alliance get to be part of trade shows happening globally. The members also gain from the active ecosystem and contributors providing solutions, products and services to create business opportunities.
The objective of IoT is to help conventional sensing devices share data with several devices and together provide a good service. For example, IoT can be applied in an environment to monitor the atmosphere and give information or warnings. Just as short-range wireless technologies are being used indoors, technologies have been put in place to provide a longer-range outdoor wireless network like LoRa. Many technologies have been applied to enable the transfer of data from the sensors that form IoT. Full duplex transmission of data simply implies the signal carrier induced, simultaneous, bidirectional transfer of data in a particular communication network. In this network, two nodes serve as a transceiver and have LoRa protocol.
During transmission, any transmitter near your receiver will completely lose its ability to receive and a short period after the transmission is completed. A full-duplex needs the two frequencies involved to be far away from each other and also needs filters on the receiver to prevent the signal from the transmitter opposite. Also, you cannot transmit and receive data at once between two nodes without the usual LoRa devices used in the nodes. They can be either receiving or transmitting. Gateway uses various channel LoRa devices so identify a device that uses the equivalent of about eight single nodes LoRa devices.
LoRaWAN gives a low-power solution for successfully transmitting data to far away distances. To curb this problem and cover a larger area, you can construct a LoRaWAN mesh network. This network permits you to transmit data across long distances because a node functions as a repeater. The LoRaWAN mesh network guarantees data transmission and allows the building of flexible and larger networks that takes a small amount of energy. LoRa technology is the ideal choice for cities that are connected because it has a longer signal range ad consumes minimal power. The structure of the LoRaWAN smart city is easy and affordable to fix and does not need a license. This technology can transmit and receive data and can deliver messages to remote areas.
A raspberry code can support both Pi and Arduino making communication between these two possibilities. Radio head library is the underlying foundation and base of the Raspberry and Pi connection. You need to install this in your Arduino IDE.
To begin this program, import the Serial Peripheral Code library to use BPI and also the RH_RF95 library from the radio head. This is to Carry-out LoRa communication.
Identify the pin of Arduino you connected the CS, RST, and INT pin of Arduino and LoRa.
Show that a frequency of 434MHz will be used on the module then activate the module.
Reset the LoRa module in the setup to ten milliseconds.
Activate it with the module you created with the radio head.
Set the transmission power and the frequency for the LoRa server.
Send the data packet through the LoRa module inside the infinite loop.
MQTT is used to achieve communication between network servers and gateway. The data is communicated between multiple devices by the MQTT protocol. The MQTT protocol is usually used to reduce interferences in unreliable networks, susceptible to interruptions. The server collects these messages and clients that are capable of reading and writing to the MQTT broker. The client needs to identify the topics they wish to write or subscribe to. All topics can be selected. Most times, the MQTT broker works on the server’s machine. The gateway will write the visible payload gotten from the device with additional information like the frequency and time when an uplink is transmitted. MQTT helps the devices in enterprising data integration for data private LoRaWAN operations which are put in simple ways such that a client can understand. The MQTT broker also blocks dangerous gateways from accessing the uplinks from other gateways when configured well.
Micro-US input: This feature is used to supply power
USB connector (Host): this is an output port for the Raspberry Pi
Raspberry power input
HDMI: digital video output interface (HD)
Headphone jack
Ethernet interface
Connect your gateway module RHF0M01-868 to PR12 Bridge RHF4T002 to Raspberry Pi3
Connect your USB connector to your Raspberry power input using a USB cable
Connect your USB to UART adaptor then to the GP10 in the Raspberry Pi
Connect your USB to a UART adaptor then to your computer
Connect the USB input to a 5 Volt per 2.1 Ammeter adapter using a 100cm micro-USB cable.
Arduino: This is used for opening the sensual port LoRaWAN with GPS and also transmit signals to it
PuTTY: this tool includes a serial and an SSH terminal used in controlling the Raspberry Pi. It is also an internet browser used in accessing the RHF2001 interface LoRaWAN server. Chrome will be best for this).
1) Power your PC and connect it to putty
2) Enlarge the file system of your SD card
3) Use the RHF2001 server
4) Use RHF76-052AM to set up your LoRaWAN server
LoRa gateway: This device connects various kinds of networks. The LG01 bridges the normal internet’s IP network into a single, seamless connection with the wireless LoRa network.
Arduino: this is an electronic platform that uses ‘easy to use software and hardware. It is ideal for someone setting up an interactive project.
LoRa shield: this is used to build a sensor node. This adds to the Arduino board the LoRa wireless.
LoRa GPS shield: This builds sensor by adding to the Arduino board LoRa wireless and sensors.
Sensors: there are different types of sensors; the relay, IED, ultrasonic, DHT11, photosensitive, flame and buzzer sensors.
The connection services they offer:
Check out the connection service your service provider offers. Services like end-to-end complete IoT connection must be provided. Evaluate the capabilities of the service providers. What people need is a spot that can give them the advice they need and should be able to provide them with accurate and reliable IoT solutions
e-Sim: e-sim makes it possible for a person to store various operator profiles on the side of their device by side. e-sim hives control of IoT
The connection requirements: every user has a specific connection need they want a service provider to satisfy. Make sure your service provider satisfies that need and does not add to your problem.
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