A Study of LoRa PHY Protocol and LoRaWAN Networks

By offering lower cost, lower energy consumption, and long-range connectivity, LoRa resulted from its incipit a promising technology that fostered the real deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) networks. The LoRa Alliance has defined a MAC layer on top of the LoRa PHY able to manage LoRa Wide Area Networks (LoRaWAN). This book chapter describes in detail the main features and related potential of LoRa PHY protocol. It analyzes how the LoRaWAN standard manages the entire end-to-end system, and the communication among the different network elements. The chapter also discusses the challenges opened by the PHY and MAC protocol specifications on the network performance, in particular on network coverage, scalability, reliability, and energy consumption. Possible extension of the coverage with integration of aerial and space networks is proposed. Finally, scheduling techniques for reducing collision and thus improving energy efficiency and reliability are presented.