All you need to know about LoRa® and LoRaWAN®

According to the LoRa Alliance, three-quarters of all IoT applications on the global IoT market are based on low-power wide-area network solutions, LPWAN for short, which also includes LoRaWAN or LoRa. In contrast, only about a quarter of IoT applications are based on high-bandwidth wireless technologies such as 5G (source: https://lora-alliance.org). This is also reflected in market growth: the market is estimated at around US$5.6 billion in 2023 and is expected to rise to over US$25 billion by 2028. This corresponds to average annual growth of more than 35% until 2028 (source: https://www.iotm2mcouncil.org).

More and more municipalities and cities are reporting that they have set up a so-called LoRaWAN network and want to develop into a "smart city". But what is behind this, which IoT applications are still suitable for LoRaWAN and why has it experienced such an upswing in recent years?

Frequency bands and data rates of LoRa

License-free frequency ranges are used for transmission. In Europe, for example, this is the 868 Mhz band. The advantage is that, unlike mobile communications, this frequency can be used free of charge if certain conditions are met, i.e., no charges are incurred.

When selecting LoRaWAN devices and sensors, attention must be paid accordingly to whether the respective device or sensor is designed for the location.

However, in order not to overload the public frequencies, the max. size is 243 bytes. The data transmission rate is between 300 bit/s - 50 kBit/s and depends on the distance between the end device and the gateway. The closer the end device is to the gateway, the higher the data rate, the faster the data transfer and the lower the energy consumption. In addition, the permissible "time on air", i.e. the total duration of the transmission, must not be exceeded. Accordingly, LoRa is not suitable for real-time applications, but it helps the battery in the sensors last longer and is suitable for a wide variety of IoT applications.

What is the difference between LoRa and LoRAWAN?

While LoRa refers to the radio standard, LoRaWAN stands for Long Range Wide Area Network and is one of the LPWAN technologies along with NB-IoT, LTE or WLAN. It describes the LoRa network and the open communication protocol of the same name. The protocol and the network architecture have the greatest influence on the battery life of a sensor, the network capacity, quality of service, security and variety of applications served by the network.

LoRaWAN targets the key requirements of IoT - Internet of Things such as secure bidirectional communication, localization and mobility of services. It also provides seamless collaboration of different systems and techniques among Smart Things without the need for rigid, local complex installations. Another advantage of LoRa is that the number of end devices that can be integrated is virtually unlimited. Once set up, a LoRaWAN network can be flexibly expanded at any time.

LoRaWAN is driven by the LoRa Alliance, a non-profit organization for the promotion and standardization of low-power wide-area network technologies. It was founded in 2015. Now with more than 500 members, including technology leaders such as IBM, Cisco, HP, Foxconn, Semtech and Sagemcom, the Alliance works closely together and shares experiences to promote and drive the success of the LoRaWAN® standard as the leading open global standard for secure IoT LPWAN connectivity.

Applications of LoRa and LoRaWAN

LoRa and LoRaWAN are suitable for a wide variety of IoT applications where rather small amounts of data are to be transmitted over long distances, but not in a real-time critical manner.

Typical applications often involve event-based reporting and/or "search & find". Measurement data acquisition & local "asset tracking" are big topics in IoT, e.g. a networked supply chain that works safely and reliably or container or area management, as well as energy and water supply, level monitoring of silos, containers and much more.

Common examples of IoT applications using LoRaWAN:

• Smart City: Demand-controlled street lighting, traffic light control or traffic measurement for traffic control, monitoring of waste containers for route optimization for disposal vehicles/garbage collection, parking space control via parking space sensors (smart parking).
• Smart metering: remote reading of electricity, water and gas meters, exchange of electricity consumption data with a utility/utility company
• Environmental monitoring: e.g. air quality monitoring, water level monitoring
• Logistics: asset tracking, i.e. use of GPS trackers to track loads, equipment or vehicles, container management/item tracking in defined areas
• Smart Farming: Monitoring of animals, barns and fields - from soil moisture sensors to temperature sensors for animals and barns
• IIoT/Industry 4.0: Condition monitoring of machines and systems, optimization of production processes
• Digital/Smart Health: e.g., alarms, hospital bed tracking.

LoRaWAN Security

In addition, LoRaWAN networks are very secure because LoRaWAN protocols use end-to-end encryption algorithms. The data is transmitted encrypted from the sensor to the final application. The security mechanism is based on the AES encryption algorithm using an IEEE-EUI64 identifier. A properly implemented encryption method, such as 128-bit AES encryption, provides a high level of security. The additional use of HTTPS and VPN further increases security.

LoRaWAN classes

LoRaWAN end devices serve a wide variety of purposes and differ in their requirements. LoRaWAN uses different device classes for this purpose. All classes allow bidirectional communication, i.e. they can both send and receive data.

In general, data is exchanged between the end device, usually a sensor, and the LoRaWAN gateway. A distinction is made between uplink and downlink. Uplink refers to sending the data from the end device to the gateway, whereas downlink refers to receiving the data from the gateway to the end device. In all classes, data can be sent to the gateway at any time. However, the downlink behavior, i.e. how data can be received from the gateway, differs depending on the class.

Class A terminals

LoRaWAN terminals available on the market must always comply with class A and are therefore the most widely used. They work according to the ALOHA method. This is a communication method in which a source sends data in so-called frames. If a frame arrives successfully at its destination, the next frame is sent. If there are collisions with other frames, the frame is sent again.

For class A devices, a LoRaWAN sensor sends data packets to the gateway, then two downlink receive windows open. During these receive windows, the sensor can receive data. Outside of these receive windows, no data can be received. The device is in a sleep mode during this time to save battery. A renewed downlink can only take place during a renewed upload.

Class B terminals

Class B end devices function like class A devices, but there are further defined downlink windows in addition to the two defined receive windows. To enable the end device to receive the downlink at the scheduled time and "wake up" from sleep mode, it receives a time-synchronized beacon (i.e., a very small data packet) from the gateway. As a result, the server knows when the end device is ready to receive.

Class C terminals

Class C terminals are ready to receive almost continuously, and accordingly also consume more energy than classes A and B. The receive windows are only closed during upload transmission.