Cities are growing and are using new smarter solutions for improving the quality of life of people. IoT is one such solution that is being used for smarter, more efficient data-driven operations. But the biggest challenge in IoT is M2M communication that needs communication over long ranges with low power level usage. This issue is solved by a new wireless technology called as LoRa (Long Range). LoRa is long range, low power consumption technology that is used for building IoT networks worldwide. Public and private networks using this technology can provide coverage that is greater in range compared to that of existing cellular networks. A lot of LoRa operators are cellular operators like Bouygues Telecom, Proximus, SingTel, Swisscom and FastNet.
The LoRa alliance is an association that was launched at Mobile World Congress in 2015. It was initiated by various companies to standardize Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN) for the IoT, smart city, Machine 2 machine and industrial applications. LoRa alliance includes companies namely Eolane,Actility, Cisco, IBM, Kerlink, Sagemcom, Semtech, IMST, MultiTech as well as leading telecom operators named above. Semtech is the company which build LoRa technology on chipsets and these chipsets are then mounted into the IoT products
LoRa technology uses LoRaWAN protocol which is developed by LoRa alliance. It uses unlicensed radio spectrum in ISM band 868 MHz-915 MHz for communication between sensors (nodes) and gateways connected to a network server .
What is the range and energy consumption of the LoRa network?
LoRa's star-shaped network architecture uses different regional frequency ranges in the ISM band and SRD band. In Europe, these include the frequency band from 433.05 MHz to 434.79 MHz and the frequency band from 863 MHz to 870 MHz.
In North America, however, the frequency band from 902 MHz to 928 MHz is approved for data transmission. The sensors can operate for years without having to replace the batteries.
LoRa also offers an impressive range. In sparsely populated areas, up to 55 kilometers can be bridged between transmitter and receiver. In the city, the range is reduced to a few kilometers by the buildings, but thanks to good penetration, underground sensors can also be reached.
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