Long-range Internet of Things: analysis of LoRa performance

The internet of things (IoT) is a concept for a wireless network that allows objects to be sensed or controlled remotely using the internet as a carrier. The IoT is attractive for future wireless systems and it is estimated that the IoT will consist of 75 billion objects by 2025. As the IoT looks to scale up, the cellular industries are likely to use both licensed and unlicensed bands for this purpose. The Low-power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) is one of the IoT technologies, which hires licensed and unlicensed spectrum for data transmission over long distances. Since one of the most important issues in sending and receiving data is to minimise the maintenance and deployment cost, having a knowledge of the system propagation plays a vital role in designing a reliable and cost-effective network. Therefore, the main aim of this project is to assess the propagation performance of long-range IoT technology (LoRa) as unlicensed spectrum in an LPWAN, at the frequency of 915 MHz. To reach this goal, real-world measurements are recorded at different locations of the Macquarie University campus, Sydney, Australia. Using the measurement data, we will introduce path-loss models for Line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) areas which enable operators to estimate the number of LoRa base stations required for covering a specific area.